UGA Institute of Higher Education

Denisa Gandara (PhD 2016) and co-author Amy Li investigate Promise programs in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Their article, Promise for Whom? ‘Free-College’ Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges tracks the effectiveness of 33 different programs on first-time college students by race/ethnicity and gender. They define Promise programs broadly as effort to award financial aid to students based on their geographic ...location regardless of those programs’ eligibility criteria or disbursement methods for aid. They write, By examining multiple programs simultaneously, we explore how different design characteristics relate to effects across various demographic groups. Pulling data from IPEDS, they focus on institutional-level enrollment changes before and after program implementation, rather than impact on participating students. Their findings show that Promise programs relate positively to increases in enrollments of most demographic groups with the greatest increases among Black and Hispanic students. The design characteristics had impact on which groups the program reached. Read the article at: https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720962472

Ashley Clayton (IHE Postdoc 2016-2017) and co-author Paul Umbach evaluate the effectiveness of North Carolina's college access campaign in increasing the overall number of applications submitted to the state's postsecondary institutions and low-income student enrollment figures. North Carolina was an early sponsor of state-wide campaigns to encourage applications and one of the few states that removes application fees for during the campaign. Using institution-level data and... Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data Clayton and Umbach compare and contrast results in North Carolina with wider trends. Their research indicates that the North Carolina College Access Week (NC CAW) improved application rates, particularly to private colleges in the state. They also found several ways in which North Carolina offers important lessons to other states and even to individual institutions that wish to engage these concerted enrollment programs. Read the full article at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/766476

Denisa Gándara (PhD 2016) and Sosanya Jones investigate how policymakers use discursive strategies in advocating higher education policy in "Who Deserves Benefits in Higher Education?: A Policy Discourse Analysis of a Process Surrounding Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act." The paper appears in the fall 2020 issue of Review of Higher Education. Using the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act as a case study, Gándara... and Jones explored the deliberations recorded during the committee sessions of December 2017. This approach highlights the importance of the markup process and how it can effect final committee versions of bills. They found considerable evidence of the discursive strategies of avoidance and constituent classification. The use of these strategies tightly aligned with social constructions and levels of power of the policymakers. Gándara and Jones write, "By making visible these processes, this study can propel advocates, including policy intermediaries, and stakeholders targeted (or neglected) in this process, to anticipate markups and seek to inform or otherwise influence these processes." Full article available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/766477

A research paper by Tim Cain appears in the fall 2020 issue of Review of Higher Education. In "Collective Bargaining and Committee A: Five Decades of Unionism and Academic Freedom," Cain uses 50 years of reports by the American Association of University Professors’ Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure to unravel the complicated relationship between unionization and academic freedom on college campuses. Cain writes, "[T]his study speaks to the longstanding uncertainties ...about the effects of unionization on academic freedom and responds to specific calls for research on both academic freedom and collective bargaining in modern higher education, including on how they intersect." Among his findings, Cain notes that this work "highlights the ongoing importance of promoting AAUP principles and negotiating stronger contract provisions, especially as higher education enters a new round of financial distress and retrenchment." Read full article at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/766475

In an essay, "Reframing Decision Making in the Current Crisis," published by TIAA Institute, Jim Hearn challenges industrial production rubrics and labels often applied to gage the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education institutions. Instead, he advises his students (current and future higher education leaders) to think more broadly about the role of our colleges and universities, "not only as factory-like enterprises, but also as cultural institutions, political ar...enas, vehicles for social mobility, and agencies chartered by society to develop engaged democratic citizens." His essay is part of the TIAA Institute's Voices of Expertise & Experience: Insights to Inform Responses to COVID-19’s Impact on Financial Security and Higher Education series. Read the full paper at: https://www.tiaainstitute.org//reframing-decision-making-c

George Spencer is quoted in "How 2- and 4-year colleges can boost spring enrollment" on EducationDive. Spencer's research of articulation agreements that define how credits transfer between schools (particularly between two-year and four-year higher education institutions) is an important part of convincing students to re-engage with higher education during the pandemic. "While colleges have been more flexible for students coming directly from high school, such as by waiving... standardized testing requirements, they 'need to start doing the same for things like credit transfer,' said George Spencer Jr." Read the brief at: https://www.educationdive.com//how-2-and-4-year-co/587062/

Karen Webber and Rachel Burns (PhD 2018) appear in Research in Higher Education. Noting the upward trend in borrowing among graduate and professional students, Webber and Burns investigate the implications on students and institutions and on policy development. Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data (IPEDS), their study examines educational debt for graduate and professional students in 2000 and 2016 a...nd explores whether significant predictors of debt changed over time. They were guided by the theories of human capital and rational choice as they considered how debt loads contribute to fewer advanced degrees pursued by minority students. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-020-09611-x

Research on tracking systems in post-secondary education by Amy Stich appears in the Journal of Higher Education. Her paper, "Beneath the White Noise of Postsecondary Sorting: A Case Study of the 'Low' Track in Higher Education," tackles the seemingly benign language used to perpetuate "organizational foundations, hierarchies, and processes that are constituting and constituted by race." Stich collected data during the 20162017 academic year at a regional university, which i...ncluded more than 50 interviews, roughly 100 hours of observation, and review of documents. She uses Victor Ray’s newly conceptualized theory of racialized organizations. Stich writes that her findings "highlight some of the ways [an institution] legitimates the unequal distribution of resources to students in the 'low' track, diminishes the agency of racially minoritized students..., reinforces Whiteness as a credential, and decouples its commitment to equity and access from policies and practices." "[T]hose paths remain largely inequitable, run contrary to democratic intention, and restrict or remove individual choice," she said. Full article available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2020.1824481

Lindsay Coco (PhD 2015) has been named by the University of Georgia in its inaugural group of Unsung Heroes. This recognition highlights the contributions of "outstanding staff members who have played an essential role in keeping UGA running smoothly during the COVID-19 pandemic." As the assistant director for initiatives in the Division of Academic Enhancement, Lindsay helps students overcome major challenges during the pandemic (like loss of employment, no access to interne...t, and no computer) and continue progress toward their degrees. She says she feels lucky to have a job that allows her to make real connections with the students. I may not have the same belief system as someone, but I always think about how I can learn from that person. How can I give back where I can?" Read the full article at: https://news.uga.edu/unsung-hero-lindsay-coco/

PhD student Ijaz Ahmad presented a paper with Jim Hearn at the 36th European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium on July 2, 2020. Their quantitative comparison of 21 European higher education systems was titled A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Adoption and Diffusion of Performance-based Funding in European Higher Education. According to its website, EGOS has around 2500 members located in over 50 countries around the world. Before moving to an online d...elivery, the annual colloquium was held in Hamburg, Germany. The study addresses conceptual and methodological limitations in previous studies. To better understand the phenomenon, they conducted a quantitative study to test the validity of a new more robust conceptual framework. Focusing on eight variables, they determine several significant factors in the adoption and diffusion of accountability policies in European higher education.

Greg Wolniak drew on his research into which types of collegiate activities and programs most positively affect students' outcomes to open a conversation around which opportunities to prioritize during the pandemic. He shared economic and non-economic return-on investment data and high-impact practices that empirically have been shown to benefit students and society most broadly. While acknowledging health and financial factors (including calls for tuition and fee refunds), t...he participants also discussed students' and their families' perceptions of the value of certain experiences during their college years and the transition to online instruction. The need to address the gap between the current lived-experience on campus and how higher education institutions promoted that image to prospective students and the need to invest in virtual education were prominent themes. This exploration of the value of college was the fifth Zoomtable topic broached by the Institute's faculty since spring. A recording of the discussion is available to our community by emailing the Institute. Read more: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/720762

Karen Webber led a conversation of purposes and uses of data analytics in higher education on Monday, August 31. Two dozen graduates, current students, and friends of the Institute from across the United States participated in the event. They represented a variety of backgrounds, institutions, and current roles in higher education administration and research. This presentation was the fifth in a series of IHE roundtable discussions held by Zoom, which highlight critical aspects of the impacts of the COVID-19 and higher education's response. Recordings are available upon request to members of the IHE community.

Adapting to the State and Federal Higher Education Financial Landscape Amid COVID-19 Thursday, Sept 10 | 12:00 pm Eastern/9:00 am Pacific Co-Sponsored by the ASHE Council for Public Policy in Higher Education & SHEEO Registration is free for current ASHE members and $10 for those who aren't current members. (Live captioning will be provided.)... Online Registration: https://www.ashe.ws/ev_calendar_day.asp

Phil Klein (EdD 2019) accepted a new position as vice president of economic and workforce development at West Virginia Northern Community College (WVNCC) with campuses in Wheeling, Weirton, and New Martinsville. He is charged with expanding the College’s Workforce Development Program, overseeing current offerings, and outreach through the Community Education offerings. Phil previously served as the inaugural Dean of the School of Health and Public Safety at South Piedmont Community College in North Carolina.